Keith Richards, Mavis Staples Salute Bruce Willis at NYC Charity Show

In a performance space that felt more like an extended living room than a club, Keith Richards surveyed the crowd and flashed a sly smile. “So I have to follow Mavis Staples,” he said of his unenviable position. Then, like Staples, Norah Jones, and Warren Hayes, he proceeded to rock the latest edition of New York’s Soho Sessions shows anyway.

A private live music event in that part of Manhattan, the Soho Sessions has become one of New York’s must-see events for the 150 or so fortunate to snag a ticket to each of its roughly 10-times-a-year shows. The fifth-floor loft space itself has an illustrious history: Once upon a rhyme, it was home to Chung King Studios, where classic old-school hip-hop albums by Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and Run-DMC were recorded.

But since it launched in 2021, the Soho Sessions gigs have presented intimate performances by legends (Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Nile Rodgers and Chic, Taj Mahal, Steve Earle) and comparative newcomers (Marcus King, Yola, Maren Morris, Lukas Nelson). Each show is also designed to bring awareness to a particular cause: Befitting an issue close to him, last year’s Simon set, which was attended by the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Jackson Browne, and Whoopi Goldberg, benefited the Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss.

In honor of Bruce Willis, who’s been battling frontotemporal dementia for two years, last night’s Soho Sessions aimed to raise awareness of (and funds for) the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD), the organization leading research into the incurable condition. To an audience dotted with fellow actors — Kevin Bacon, Michael J. Fox, Kyra Sedgwick, Steve Guttenberg, and Willis’ ex, Demi Moore — Willis’ wife Emma said her husband was “here in spirit” and passed along one of his favorite sayings: “Can we please have some fun?”

Clasping an electric guitar, Jones dug into her early catalog for swaying versions of “Come Away with Me” and her version of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan’s “Long Way Home.” With her band, Staples brought her trademark spunk and vocal grit to two Staple Singers songs — the gospel-imbued “City in the Sky” and their trademark “I’ll Take You There,” complete with a crowd call and response. “Norah, where are you?” she asked at one point, bringing Jones up for a duet on “You Are Not Alone,” the two of them holding hands as they sang.

“Bruce and I have been neighbors for many years,” Richards told the crowd during his set, fondly calling the two of them “beach bums.” But Richards were there to celebrate and romp as well. Backed by guitarist Larry Campbell, drummer Steve Jordan, bassist Joey Spampinato of NRBQ, and pianist Ivan Neville, Richards’ set was brief — only three songs — but made up for the brevity with a clanking, juke-joint-rocking performance. With Richards and Campbell trading guitar parts, the band opened with a slow-rolling version of Big Bill Broonzy’s blues standard “Key to the Highway,” leading into a version of the Stones’ Keith-led gem “You Got the Silver,” with Campbell on lap slide guitar. In a somewhat early nod to the upcoming holiday season, Richards — in a black cap and looking relaxed and at ease — took the band thorough a romping version of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run,” with Campbell and Richards swapping solos. (Note to Richards: Please take this band on tour with you.)

As he acknowledged in the last set of the night, jam-band legend Warren Haynes was in a somewhat challenging position. “Keith said he had to follow Mavis, and I have to follow Keith,” he shrugged. But to a house that remained packed, Haynes gamely played B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” his own anthemic “Soul Shine,” and a version of Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues” that harked back to his tenure in the Allman Brothers Band. American roots music may not be a cure for ailments like the one impacting Willis, but the night proved that it could at least be a balm.